"CBR me.... ASAP!" Aug. 18

Posted Aug 18, 2009 8:21pm
Sarai is getting excited about her big trip to Duke this weekend. It’s all she can talk about. Adam and I have been scrambling to get all the paperwork together that we need. He’s going to the hospital tomorrow morning to get a copy of Sarai’s head ultrasound and MRI to bring to Duke. Tomorrow, Sarai has an appointment with her doctor, just to make sure she’s gaining weight.

So, I was chatting with my cousin Amy via e-mail about cord blood banking and thought I’d write to you guys about it tonight.

If you are pregnant, you’ve probably seen lots of advertisements for cord blood banking. There’s lots of banks, the two big ones are Cord Blood Registry (CBR) and Via Cord. Banking cord blood is expensive, and CBR and Via Cord are probably the most expensive (around $2100, but you can get small discounts). You can shop around and find banks that will charge $1500, or even closer to $1000. My advice to you is, this is not a place where you want to worry about saving money.

Talking to my cousin Julie was what finally made me choose CBR. She told me they were doing the most research, and she was right. I called Duke on my own because of an article I read, but before they got back to me, I called CBR to see what they knew about research with cord blood and PVL. They got right back to me and a wonderful woman named Sherry was just about to put me in contact with Duke herself. She knew all about what they were doing there, what doctor I needed to contact, and knew that CBR had sent cord blood out to Duke for babies with PVL.

When I got in contact with Duke, they said they didn’t know if Sarai would qualify, and that a lot would depend on how many stem cells were in her cord blood and how it was stored. When I told them her cord blood was with CBR, they immediately sounded relieved.

The people we’ve been in contact with at Duke have been exceptional. And Sherry at CBR almost feels like a sister. She’s as excited about this as I am. When I talk to her, she says, “Now, I need this paper right away, then I need you to take a nap. I’m worried about you!” She actually ended our last phone call with an, “I love you!” She’s just been such a sweetheart.

Please don’t be dissuaded by doctors and their opinions about cord blood. Most of them really aren’t educated about what research is being done. As you know, I was told that research wasn’t even being done with animals and PVL, and we all know now that’s not true. They really are beginning to do amazing things with cord blood, and what they can do in the future will be that much more amazing.

Bank cord blood. Better safe than sorry.